The Path Less Travelled
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: What if the therapy session in Reuniting The Family didn't end like it did? (AU, 3D/HD crossover)
1. Past Dysfunctional

**A/N: This story crosses over with the 3D universe so some characters and things from GTA San Andreas will appear.**

"Damn it! So yeah, I killed someone in self defense, it was unintentional, Amanda! You can't go one fucking day without bringing that up and throwing it back in my face, can you, you condescending, piss poor excuse of a human being?!" 16 year old Carly yelled, her sudden and rather sharp yelling startling her siblings and her mother.

It had been a therapy session to try to fix the problems between the De Santa family and it had been going well… if you consider Michael and Amanda screaming at each other as "going well."... and then Amanda had to bring up the shooting at Mount Zonah that took place three years earlier, once again trying to shift the blame for the family being dysfunctional off of Michael and onto Carly.

"I think we're getting off track here, the point is to try to-" Dr. Friedlander says, trying to intervene.

"I keep bringing it up because the cops, being so damn corrupt in this town, decided not to hold you responsible-" Amanda shouts.

"Well, since you like bringing up the past and throwing it back in people's faces, how about when you shoved that stripper out the hotel window and almost killed her, huh?! And that wasn't self defense, you did it out of rage, Amanda! You're no better than any one of us, what gives you any right to act like you're not a cruel, heartless, ill tempered, sorry ass excuse of a wife and mother?!" Michael says after standing up, yelling halfway through.

The way he was stood protectively in front of Carly gave Amanda no chance of hitting the violet eyed brunette.

Jimmy and Tracey were uncomfortably quiet, the two older De Santa children unsure of what to do and torn between siding with their mother and defending their father and younger sister.

"And… I think that's enough time for today." Dr. Friedlander says, deciding to cut the therapy session short. The De Santa family left, Tracey and Jimmy leaving in a taxi, Amanda leaving in her red Sentinel and Michael and Carly leaving in Michael's black Obey Tailgater.

"Well… that didn't go like I had hoped. You okay, kiddo?" Michael says.

"I… I thought I would've been okay… I don't really know how to feel now. Barely have had my memory back for one day and already, everything's gone back to hell." Carly says as _From Nowhere (Baardsen Remix)_ by Dan Croll played from Radio Mirror Park.

"After that… I don't think they're coming back. Maybe it's for the best… it really pissed you off, Amanda bringing up everything that happened to all of us and acting like she was a damn saint, didn't it?" Michael says, Carly nodding as Michael drove back into the city.

Carly changed the radio station to K-Dst, _Somebody Up There Likes Me_ by David Bowie playing and soothing Carly's frayed nerves but not completely… Michael could tell that his youngest child was still aggravated.

Carly's phone chimed and she grabbed it, seeing a text from Johnny.

' _Therapy session went to hell in a handbasket, didn't it darlin?'_

' _Yeah. Not much hope for the De Santa family being stabilized anytime soon.'_ Carly replies.

' _Well, not all families are functional. Hope everything calms down.'_ Johnny replies.

"Your friend has a point, not all families are functional… I just don't think that there's another one as dysfunctional as ours." Michael says.

At the same time, Amanda was moving her things out of Fabien's condo and putting them in her suitcases before putting them in her car. She was going to crash at a hotel until she found a place of her own… but right now, she was even more aggravated than earlier.

Amanda slammed the driver's door shut after getting in, started up the engine and flipped the station to K-JAH West, _Chase The Devil_ by Max Romeo & The Upsetters playing as she drove off towards the Jefferson Motel… she would've preferred to stay at what she considered classier hotels but she was running low on money and the last legitimate job she had was being a stripper before she met Michael.

' _It wasn't always like this.'_ Amanda thought sadly as she reached the motel, paid for a room, took her luggage and set it down in there, closing and locking the door… the room was clean at least and didn't actually look as low class and cheap as Amanda initially thought.

At the same time, Jimmy and Tracey had called Franklin and told him what happened, to which he said that they were welcome to stay at his house as long as they needed to.

"It might not be long for me… I applied to a few colleges in the state and out of state. Hopefully, I get into one of them." Tracey says after putting her things in one of the guest rooms.

"I think you're taking a step in the right direction by doing that, Tracey." Franklin says, the two hugging.

Meanwhile, Jimmy was filling out another job application online as well as a college application for one out in Vice City.

' _Maybe being on my own will help calm things down… I can make it on my own. I can do this.'_ Jimmy thought, trying to encourage himself that he was doing the right thing for his future.


	2. Trying To Find Shelter

The quietness in the De Santa house was too damn eerie but at least Carly and Michael had cleaned up the house yesterday so it looked less disheveled… and in the hope of getting the rest of the De Santa family to come back.

"Well… that really didn't work out like we thought, huh kiddo?" Michael says.

"If they're going to continue being like that, then that's on them… I'm… I'm gonna go clear my head. I'll be back in a bit, you'll be okay here?" Carly says.

"I'll be okay here. Feel free to take as much time as you need, kiddo." Michael says, the two hugging before Carly grabbed her Vader keys and headed to the garage.

Once Carly had her helmet on, was out on the road and reached the Senora Freeway, she sped towards Blaine County. She was intending on seeing Johnny, drinking a few beers and eating Chinese food with him like they usually do… but some noises coming from Trevor's caravan made her stop her bike.

Carly shut the bike off, put her keys in her shorts pocket and took her helmet off, making sure she had her SNS Pistol before walking into Trevor's caravan… the second she heard him sobbing and screaming for someone he called Charlotte, Carly ran to Trevor's side… but before she could do anything to help Trevor, Carly screamed in pain as she was sent crashing into the wall, Trevor's fist having slammed into her nose and mouth and making both areas bleed.

"Oh, fuck! Carly, I am so sorry, I didn't-" Trevor says, Carly bolting out of the caravan but Trevor followed her, grabbing her right arm… what he didn't expect was for Carly to slam her fist into his nose and right eye socket.

Trevor's screams echoed as he fell to his knees, his hands on his broken nose as Carly hopped back on her bike and sped off… not only had he just physically hurt Carly, he may have scared the hell out of her.

Trevor had a feeling that Carly heard him screaming during his nightmare, pleading for Charlotte to not die… he didn't mean to punch Carly but she didn't seem to think it was unintentional… given what he's done to her since returning, Trevor didn't blame Carly at all for trying to get away from him.

When Trevor eventually calmed down, he left and went to the E.R, finding Carly and Johnny there in a treatment room. Johnny stayed in front of Carly, who's nose and eye socket were clearly broken, the nose having just been reset, and several small stitches in her lower lip.

"Look… I'm sorry about what I did, it wasn't justified in the slightest-" Trevor starts to say.

"You say that you're still Uncle T to Carly-" Johnny says.

"I wasn't talking to you, Klebitz, fuck off!" Trevor yells.

"No, you fuck off! I don't want to hear a fake apology or an excuse! You keep trying to pull me and Johnny away from each other or put your damn hands on me again, I'm putting you in the damn ground, you sorry ass son of a bitch!" Carly says, shouting halfway through before leaving with Johnny.

Enough was enough in Carly's mind where Trevor was concerned. She was curious for a few seconds as to who Charlotte was… now Carly didn't even want to know, she just wanted Trevor out of her life for good but that was damn impossible with Trevor Philips, he'd fight tooth and nail to stay involved in Carly's life.

And right now, Trevor was feeling the same kind of betrayal that he felt when he found out that Brad hadn't survived the bank job...

 **Carly's P.O.V**

Ending up at Johnny's caravan, I sit down on the couch and lean against it, Johnny sitting next to me and wrapping his arms around my shoulders, me instinctively leaning against him like I've done before… I'm not sure why, I just find it really comforting when I'm being held like this.

"First the therapy session goes to hell in a handbasket and then when you go to check on Trevor, you end up with a broken nose… darlin, I think we can safely say that today has been royally fucked up." Johnny says, lightly stroking my shoulder length hair.

"Yeah… it has. Sometimes, I don't even know why I bother, most of my family is screwed up… and then there's Trevor, a psychopath who's idea of protecting me is committing massive acts of insanity towards anyone I get close to. And then there's that friend of Sam's who says that Trevor's trying to change… what was her name again?" I say, still having issues with my memory.

"K8lynn Nichols." We hear, look and see Sam, who hisses in a sympathetic manner when she sees the reddish purple bruises on my nose and right eye socket as well as the three small stitches in my lower lip. "Ouch… maybe K8lynn should see this for herself-" Sam starts to say.

"I doubt she'd believe it… she really needs to take the damn blinders off and see Trevor for who he really is." I say.

"Carly, Trevor's the only parent-" Sam starts to say.

"Don't you start defending him too!" I snap at her without meaning to… pain really brings out the worst in me. "I'm sorry, Sam… he just doesn't…" I say.

"I was gonna say he's the only parent I have that's still alive… but that he had no right to strike you before you could even help him out of his damn nightmare. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the woman in the nightmare that terrorized his mind is named Charlotte…" Sam says, me and Johnny nodding. "I'm gonna call Nicole, have her find out the truth about Charlotte… you look like you need to rest… or need a stiff drink." She says, the two of us hugging before she leaves.

What I could use is some time away from Trevor… right now, I don't want to know about who Charlotte is… or judging from the nightmare, was.

I also have a suspicion that whoever killed her was trying to attack Trevor without physically harming him… but watching her die, while traumatic, is no excuse for trying to constantly pull me and Johnny away from each other.

Just like who I was back in North Yankton and who I am now are two different people, Trevor then and who he is now are different… and it all started the day Brad was murdered.


	3. A Look Into Their Minds

"Open this fucking door, now!" Johnny and Carly heard and opened their eyes, trying to remember when they fell asleep.

Johnny helped Carly sit up before standing up himself and walking to the door, opening it and seeing an infuriated K8lynn.

"What makes you think you can keep a man away from his niece, Klebitz?!" K8lynn demands.

"Look at what he did to her! Punched her right in the face as she was trying to help him!" Johnny said.

"That was an accident! And you-" K8lynn said, barging in and dragging Carly up to her feet and trying to drag her out of the caravan but Carly pulled K8lynn's hand off of her right arm.

"I ain't going anywhere near that fucking lunatic!" Carly shouted.

"He just wants to explain why he's-" K8lynn starts to say.

"I don't want to know!" Carly yelled, K8lynn stepping back slightly. "It's obvious that whoever Charlotte was, she meant a lot to him... but I'm not gonna listen to what he's gonna say because he's still gonna try to pull me and Johnny apart! Well you know what?! I've lived without Trevor in my life for a long time and I can do it again, the man has brought nothing but pain and chaos to people's lives! So you can turn your scrawny ass around and fuck off back to him, he just wants that little kid he supposedly loved like his own… I haven't been that girl for a long time and it started when he attacked a woman so violently that she ended up in a coma for months. And don't tell me that he's changed and is trying to support Juana and Camari by sending them money, he didn't want them around to begin with and is only doing it so he can pretend to be a good father." She says.

With that finally said, Carly felt better… and K8lynn didn't like that, the blonde leaving.

 **The next day…**

The yelling wasn't too hard to figure out… Carly and Trevor stopped fighting and turned to Amanda.

"You are coming home with me, you disobedient little bitch!" Amanda growled, Carly snatching her arm away from Amanda's hand and Amanda starting to fume at seeing her daughter's hair.

It was still the same length but had violet and silverish purple streaks in it now.

"Fuck that, she ain't going anywhere with you! She needs to be with someone who _actually_ loves her!" Trevor shouted, grabbing onto Carly's left arm.

Carly whacked him onto the side of his head and then Amanda grabbed onto Carly's right arm, Amanda and Trevor starting to pull on Carly like a toy.

Carly screamed when she felt her left shoulder snap out of its socket and Amanda backed away in a startled manner, Carly taking the opportunity to slash Trevor's face with her Italian stiletto switchblade and Trevor backing away.

"You ever… touch me again, either of you, I'll damn well chop up the body parts you use more than your brains!" Carly shouted after relocating her arm and leaving.

Carly reached Sandy Shores Medical Center and got her shoulder checked out… it was as she was leaving that K8lynn walked into the treatment room.

"Slashing his face?! And don't bother telling me he had it coming, he told me it was an accident-"

Carly cut off K8lynn's rant with a tray upside K8lynn's head, dropping it before grabbing her by her shirt.

"One bad arm won't stop me from beating some sense into you, K8lynn, if you don't stop trying to defend that son of a bitch to me! Thing is, Trevor stopped giving a fuck long before he ever met Charlotte and lost her… but you don't see that!" Carly growled, shoving K8lynn back before leaving.

Johnny wasn't back yet so Carly had the caravan to herself for a bit and walked in.

' _Damn, what a crazy day.'_ Carly thought, stretched out on the couch in the caravan… but crazy didn't even begin to describe how things had been since before Trevor had come back.

She closed her eyes, letting herself relax… but a knock at the door stopped that and in pure aggravation, she grabbed her SNS Pistol and shot at the door.

"Trevor, you psycho bastard! You come back again, I'm shoving this gun up your ass and pulling the trigger until you're dead!" Carly yelled.

But it wasn't Trevor outside.

"Nah, some people are weird but I don't have any bullet fetishes." The guy says, looking like Trevor but with a more full head of hair and a taller, broader form.

Carly would've laughed at that line but the pain from her shoulder made her mood feel dragged down, the guy noticing the sling after the door was fully opened.

"Sorry I shot at ya…" Carly says, putting the safety on and putting her gun away.

"What the hell happened?" The guy asks.

"Two abusers fighting over their punching bag who's had enough and has decided that living with friends is better than living with family. And if you're looking for your psycho relative, he lives over in Sandy Shores." Carly says.

"Oh I know what he needs. Black jacket on him, or there was back in the day, he needs a straight jacket more like." The guy says.

"He does but thinks that everyone else is the problem." Carly says, the guy nodding and deciding to leave the teenager be.

He reached the caravan and pounded his fist against the door, Trevor looking away from K8lynn.

"That bitch better apologize." Trevor mutters, standing up and opening the door. "Oh, fuck me-"

"Fuck me?! How about fuck YOU!" The guy shouts before his leg shot up and the end of his boot met Trevor's jaw, knocking him down to the floor.

"What the fuck?!" K8lynn shouted.

"Little lady, trust me, he's not worth your fucking time. Run before he ends up killing you like he did to Ryan." The guy says, K8lynn helping Trevor up.

"Where do you get off, barging back into my life?!" Trevor yelled.

"Well really it's nothing about you, it's after I heard about some children in the family, am I right? Sorry, I'm Logan, his cousin." The guy answered, the last part to K8lynn.

"What do his kids matter to you?" K8lynn asked in a hostile tone.

"Well what does one matter to him when she's not even any relation to him and he uses her as something to beat senseless?" Logan replied, Trevor looking at him. "Can you really fault her for seeking shelter from her bitch of a mother? Or are you just pissed because she doesn't trust you in the slightest?"

"That was a fucking accident! Look at what she did to K8lynn afterwards!" Trevor shouted, pointing to the stitches and bruises.

The door was pushed open and Sam walked in, taken aback when she saw Logan.

"Who the hell are you?" Sam asked when Logan saw her.

"Family… your father's cousin." Logan answered.

"More family out there…" Sam said, knowing where this was heading to and taking K8lynn out of there.

"Sam-" K8lynn started to say.

"You're staying somewhere safe, Nicole's house." Sam said, cutting her off.

K8lynn got the implied message though… forcing Trevor back into the others lives had to stop.


	4. The Ones We Run Into

Once she had dropped K8lynn off at Nicole's, Sam dropped by the caravan at The Lost MC campground and knocked on the door, Carly opening it.

"I take it he's over there?" Carly asked, letting Sam in.

"Quoting him, the difference between Trevor and Hitler is that Hitler could at least use an oven, T orders pizza or gets from the trash cans." Sam answered.

"Here's hoping Trevor gets what's coming to him… especially after he and Madam Godzilla… well, you're putting together the rest already." Carly said after Sam closed the door.

"Who in hell's name uses a barely 5ft tall girl as a stuffed toy?" Sam replies sarcastically.

"I'm about ready to commit them to an insane asylum after what happened today." Carly muttered.

The door flew open and K8lynn charged in, Carly reaching for her gun but Sam stopping her.

"We do not shoot friends, Carly!" Sam said.

"She treated me much like they did earlier, spun it to make it my fault that my arm was nearly ripped off!" Carly said angrily, K8lynn turning incensed.

Before either three could speak further, a loud bang echoed and K8lynn rushed to the window, seeing a bruised and battered Trevor stumble out of his caravan.

"And your disrespect is so raw that-" Logan yelled from inside before a chair flew from the door and crashed Trevor to the ground. "-WWE would try to fucking cast it!"

"Fuck!" Carly muttered as she saw the ensuing fight. "Not even The Shield would resort to attempted murder!"

"You stay here! You-" Sam said, K8lynn following her out the door and to the caravan.

"Damn it, why did she send him our way, is she that blood thirsty?!" K8lynn yelled.

"Yeah, you'll be saying that when he beats you so hard your brain mushes out of your earhole." Sam said sarcastically, her great cousin's act already rubbing off on her.

The fighting had gotten Nicole's attention as well and she ran over, punching Trevor and Logan in their faces before smacking their heads together.

"That's enough, act like adults and not your shoe sizes!" Nicole yelled.

"Who the hell is she?!" Logan questioned.

"Nicole… your friendly neighbourhood gun for hire." Trevor responded, knowingly using the name he knew offended and degraded Nicole.

"Beats being Trevor Philips, the wacked out of his skull, abusive prick who goes _"Everyone abandons me!"_ whenever someone gets a backbone and leaves for sanity reasons! You'd be surprised how much medical records explain, she's been in the damn ER even more than normal since you came back!" Nicole retorted.

"What about before he fucked off? Any violence before?" Logan asked, even more furious at Trevor.

"Try beating a young woman into a coma because she refused to abort an unborn conceived while they were drunken strangers and thinking that paying half the amount he should do each month cuts forgiveness. You know how much she gives about your attempted apology, T? She gives every dollar you send to the local charities, she doesn't want anything to do with it!" Nicole said.

"Can't exactly blame her…" Logan said.

Trevor attempted to leave, Logan grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't even think about it! Find another punching bag that ain't half your size." Logan responded in a low and angry tone.

Nicole and Sam headed to the campground, finding Carly with a heating pad on her shoulder and her telling Johnny about Logan.

"No pictures of him that I remember but could tell right away… fucking eerie how much they look alike, I thought they were brothers at first." Carly said.

"Their fathers were twins you know…" Johnny said after helping Carly sit up better, Carly turning confused. "Figured it out… I know him."

"Damn…" Carly said, Nicole seeing the bruise that wrapped around the socket after Carly pulled the heating pad off.

"There's no excusing it… change only sticks when the person sticks to it." Nicole said after Carly turned the heating pad off.

"How long do you think it'll be til Benson hauls them in?" Carly asked, knowing that one of the neighbors was brave enough to call 911.

"Haul Logan in? I don't think he'll even fit the cuffs around the wrists of that 8 foot tank, even I'd be reluctant to go at him." Nicole answered.

"I never really thought I'd see someone that tall without them chokeslamming someone else." Carly said.

"And he's never been any different, hit 6 foot at 15." Johnny responded.

"How the hell did you even meet him?" Carly asked.

"Oh, it goes far back. He ran away from home and before you know it, he and I are in the same high school." Johnny answered.

Johnny had thought back to one memory…

 _ **4/15/1992…**_

 _The snow fell around her and obscured her vision but she was able to duck a flying bullet before she was yanked up to her feet and ran off with the man dragging her._

" _Damn it, who did you piss off now, Logan?!" Gionna yelled, the 4'6" girl easily dwarfed by her friend's shadow._

" _The damn triads, I didn't realise they run that restaurant and I jokingly told the waiter that the sushi was so raw it could still swim, before I can count to 5 I've got a Beretta to my forehead!" Logan shouts, his Model 500 S &W Magnum in his hand and the barrel rotating as he clicked the hammer back._

 _He fired back after picking Gionna up off the ground, the two reaching The Lost MC clubhouse and running through the door, which startled Billy._

" _Shoot them, Billy! Shoot their heads!" Gionna shouts, Billy firing at the triads and killing them as Johnny ran downstairs with his AP Pistol._

" _Are you two alright?!" Johnny asks, helping them up._

" _For when there's a burglar behind the fridge in your neighbour's house… yeah, we're fine." Logan says breathlessly, hiding the 50 caliber handgun back in his jacket._

" _For the most part…" Gionna says, yanking large splinters out of her right arm. "They're like every other crime family in the city, piss one off, you'll have the whole gang on your ass!"_

" _Even when you tell them the sushi is raw." Logan says._

" _Yeah…" Gionna says, seeing Billy grab his belt. "Oh, don't even try it!"_

" _Put that back on your pants or I'll tie it around your extremities and drag you across Alderney with it!" Logan growls._

 _Billy nodded and reclipped his belt, fixing up Gionna's arm instead…_

 **Present time…**

With the two long lost family members still fighting, Carly decided to go clear her mind and grabbed what she would need.

Dropping it back off at Johnny's, she went into the Mulholland area and under the intersection… only to be shot at and jump off her Vader, gripping her AP Pistol after taking cover.

"Leave the girl alone!" An older man yelled, Carly seeing an old _Grove Street Families_ logo on his shirt.

The other man, a Ballas gangbanger, still fired at Carly until he was stopped by her shooting him in the head as the firefight continued between the rival gangs.

Police sirens weren't too far away and the man grabbed Carly by her wrist and carefully shoved her into the passenger side of the ZR-350.

"No questions, kid, we gotta lie low somewhere!" The man said as he closed the door before getting into the driver's seat and speeding off.

Carly realised just who the car belonged to from the description Lamar had given her once.

And now she had just met Carl Johnson...


End file.
